Simple external cheat for Counter-Strike 1.6

The cheat was strictly created for educational purposes, to help novice developers better understand the low-level processes of games. The project should be the entry point.

Exploring low-level capabilities and engaging in reverse engineering for educational purposes greatly develops your developer skills. You learn to understand the source of all processes, expand your horizons, and gradually become a master. I believe in you, and perhaps every professional is simply obliged to study the field of low-level programming to some extent.

THE AUTHOR DOES NOT SUPPORT UNFAIR PLAY IN MULTIPLAYER GAMES AND THE PROJECT IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO BE HARMLESS

THE CHEAT WILL GIVE YOU ALMOST NO ADVANTAGE, BECAUSE THE PROBLEM OF THE PVS (POTENTIALLY VISIBLE SET) SYSTEM OF PLAYERS HAS NOT BEEN SOLVED, WHICH IS WHY WALLHACK ONLY WORKS AT VERY CLOSE DISTANCES, WHERE IT IS NO LONGER VERY USEFUL

Build

The cheat was checked for the game version:

Protocol version 48
Exe version 1.1.2.7/Stdio (cstrike)
Exe build: 19:06:31 Oct 7 2024 (10210)

On other versions of the game, you may need to manually change the offsets. They can be easily found using Cheat Engine.

Unresolved issues

SERIOUS STATIC ANALYSIS OF THE GAME CODE IS REQUIRED TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS. IT'S NOT FOR BEGINNERS.

1. The found offset of all players is updated only when the player is close to us. This problem needs serious reversal. I assume that this is the so-called PVS (Potentially Visible Set) system, which updates player data only when they are in your line of sight. If you are in the spectator mode, then this PVS area will greatly increase.

2. The cheat reads the game's memory from outside. Such cheats are called external, and they are usually more difficult to detect, but they have a serious disadvantage, which is why such cheats are condemned in the cheat development community.

   The cheat has a serious optimization problem, the window needs to be created on top of the game window, which is why the cheat does not work with the full-screen game mode and the game itself may become less smooth.

3. Most servers have different mods and different server settings. Because of this, somewhere the PVS system may be optimized as much as possible and there may be other player offsets, as well as other model names, which is why their team will be incorrectly identified. A separate configuration may be required for a specific server.

Project structure

• process_detective.rs - a wrapper for controlling the game process, including memory reading via WinAPI
• cs_modules.rs - all found game structures with their offsets
• keyboard.rs - a wrapper over receiving a pressed key
• vector3.rs - a simple implementation of perhaps the most popular struct in 3d game development
• game.rs - create a winit window and easily manage registered cheats
• wallhack.rs, offsets_logger.rs - examples of cheats

The softbuffer library is used, which is probably the library for rendering in a window using a buffer.